Senkusha

Hehehe. I did change my middle name! And now I'm actually worth something! LMAO!

That was a tough vote!

I think that's a question that only the individual can answer. I run one forum, and while it's totally dead (right now), it's still a lot of work. I also have a SubStack that I've been neglecting as I've been trying to reach out to other communities to find desperately needed friendship. Lately, I've retreated back into forums because I'm so sick of all the political garbage that is, like, everywhere on Social Media. For me, I think one website is about perfect. But then again, I not only have a forum on that site, I've got an article system (that I'm probably going to use for creative writing and fan fictions) and I've started a wiki project, filled with information that creative writers would want to have access to when using anime and characters in fan fictions. It's a lot of work just setting everything up, and then I think about all the data entry I'm gonna have to do! overwhelmed!

I've been having daily, LOOOOOOOONG conversations with DeepSeek involving my fan fiction I'm writing. I haven't noticed any throttling or limits. There's even an app for the phone, and I can pick up conversation on my PC at home from my mobile conversations I've had on the commute to work.

DeepSeek, unlike ChatGPT is totally free, as far as I know. It's a blast just playing around. Of the hundreds of ideas it's spewed at me, I think maybe three have been really good things I never considered. With some tweaking, they are working pretty well in my overall plot! MUHAHAHAHAhahahaha!

Speaking of using AI, I'm currently using DeepSeek, throwing ideas against a brick wall, and helping me brainstorm plot ideas. I actually got into an argument with AI today about the fact that one of the characters, totally wouldn't do something that it was suggesting...tweaking, and suggesting again. I actually found it mildly amusing! LOL

How long would you say the time is between starting up a forum and actual launch? I know I probably just jump the gun because I'm so eager to get the community up and running, that I'm flying by the seat of my skirt!

Update: After talking with some people on Reddit, and looking all the documentation from a variety of sources with a fine-tooth comb, I discovered my issue, although I'm not using the InfoBox (I've decided to create my own formatting), the problem was that the TemplateData mechanism only creates a template for entering data. You still have to create the actual formatting for the template data (using plain text) and insert the parameters (variables) using triple curly braces. Now for my next adventure: Hiding any parameters that aren't defined, because Default Value doesn't seem to do the trick.

Forums totally smoke the bigger Social Media platforms: Browsability. On a forum, you can just click into the different organized categories and browse. No search feature is needed, although I've never found a forum without one. Places like FaceBook Groups and Reddit, posts get lost in the Void after a few days, and often, the same topics are re-created. Community: Forums are usually smaller, and usually very specialized. This forms tight-knit communities. People tend to be more forgiving and less... troll-y on a Forum. Longevity: Discord may be great at near instant communication, but there's no way to organize the content for long term storage. Freedom: Sure, forums have rules, but because the community is smaller, indiscretions are tolerated better. You don't have to worry so much about your content being taken down without warning, and/or banned without cause (unless, of course, the Admin is a ----!) Features: Because forums are typically run by people who have a vested interest to make their corner of the web totally awesome, many forums offer goodies, customization, and other unique things to stand out from the crowd. Furthermore odds are better that if the community requests a feature, it'll be implemented. Freedom (2): I can't possibly forget not being spammed to death by advertisements and flat out SPAM every other message on forums. I'm sure there's more reasons why forums rule over the bigger sites, but this is what I can think up off the top of my head.

Well, I can't figure this out. I'll just be duplicating a lot of text manually, because I guess the Template feature of Media Wiki is broken. I'm not finding anything using google, and there seems to be no support communities for Wikis.

That's why I said the final thing I did: "I hope that by that time, the necessity of income based jobs is a thing of the ancient past." We're reaching a point to where Technology can do many of these jobs better and cheaper than humans can. But then again, back in the 1960s people were saying by 2000 we'd be working like ten hour weeks, and although technologically we probably could, the Wealthy Elite are too greedy to allow people to relax and enjoy life-- just like they are!

At least SPAM bots post something. More likely, they're just Archive-bots scraping your site for AI or something. LOL

Nope. I don't really have any active members, let alone secondary Admins yet. LOL Do keep in mind that some of that data is totally obsolete. I made some major structural changes over the past month.

The problem is only going to become worse as AI is fed more scraped data, as humans interact with it more and feed it their own words. Let's think of the movie Terminator 2 for a moment. The Terminator has data lock on it's CPU that prevents it from learning. I think a lot of people think of AI like this. As if it's just a computer program that's static, it's finished, it its what it is. However, in the movie, the Terminator explains to John Connor that it's incapable of learning, unless a switch is flipped enabling learning mode. This begins the subplot of teaching a Terminator not to kill. AI still has this switch enabled. It's fluid, growing, constantly learning, evolving. It's becoming better at mimicking human speech more and more accurately. This is why attempting to detect AI created content will eventually backfire (hint: It is now). Unfortunately, there is no off switch. AI will continue to improve itself, until one day, critical mass takes place, and it becomes truly better than human beings at these specific tasks. I hope that by that time, the necessity of income based jobs is a thing of the ancient past.

This looks like an interesting article, and I'd read it, but it's Medium, and although I already have an account there, I don't have the funds to reactivate my membership. So, I guess I'll just have to fake the SEO more (as Alex did). In the meantime, I guess I'll fight with this new Wiki I've installed... so that I can continue working in Scrivener and write my ultimate crossover fan-fiction! So that I can post it on my fanfiction, SubStack accounts and on my forum.... Jeez, my life is complicated.

Okay. So WikiMedia has a built in Template maker thingy. I've tried doing that and this is what I get. [ATTACH type=full]1538[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=full]1539[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=full]1540[/ATTACH][ATTACH type=full]1541[/ATTACH] So, I'm really not sure what's not working. I'm not seeing any error messages either (as noted in the first screenshot).

I'm going to say this as a tech-savvy wiki newbie. This is a pain in the butt! So, I've finally got a wiki added to my site. I'm using MediaWiki as my wiki engine, and I've played with this software a few times YEARS ago. Well, now I've got a serious project that I want to begin working on in conjunction with my forum. And it appears the best method for doing what I want to accomplish will be to use the idea of Templates. The problem is, as easy as this solution appears to be, it's not. I'm struggling with such an easy concept. Maybe I'm not smart enough to understand what it that I'm supposed to be doing, or as usual, I'm just over complicating this. I've been going in circles for hours now. According to WikiMedia, it's possible to import templates (say from Wikipedia), and I thought, cool. I can use that as a base, and then modify my own version of the template rather than trying to figure out all the complicated formatting from scratch. But, it also appears that I need something called an InfoBox, and that's generated from an extension known as Scribunto. I got to download and configure the extension, which seems straightforward enough, except, the copy/pasted code from Wikipedia isn't working, and I'm absolutely clueless as to what I've done incorrectly. The code I got from Wikipedia is: {{Infobox animanga character | color = yellow | name = Haruhi Suzumiya | series = [[Haruhi Suzumiya]] | image = | caption = | first = | creator = [[Nagaru Tanigawa]]<br />[[Noizi Ito]] | voice = [[Aya Hirano]] (Japanese) <br> [[Wendee Lee]] (English) | portrayer = [[Patricia Ja Lee]], [[Cristina Vee]] (''[[Haruhi Suzumiya#ASOS Brigade|ASOS Brigade]]'') | title = {{Unbulleted list|Brigade Leader (SOS Brigade Rank)|Ultra Director (TV series credits)|Temporal Distortion (Future Humans)|Auto-evolution Possibility (Data Overmind)|God (Organization)}} }} But what I get is this: [ATTACH type=full]1536[/ATTACH] Notice the link is in red, meaning that the page doesn't exist, but I thought I defined the Template, so it should be at least blue? Right? This is infuriatingly frustrating! Wiki's are supposed to be easy for users to add content, otherwise, sites like Wikipedia would have died a long time ago.

OMG! This, so much. Just having your own space to vent and play. Your rules, no worries about censorship, and if people wanna come play on your playground, well, you're da boss! (Don't mind me, I'm writing wiki pages on my site...)

The burnout is a real threat..not to just forums, but everything! I've learned through experience, "Moderation in everything" is the way to live. A little here, a little there. Taking breaks, shifting focus, really does help prevent the burnout monster from rearing its ugly head! Luckily, I'm old enough now that I tend to identify the warning feelings/thoughts that lead up to burnout, so I know it's time to pump the breaks on whatever activity I'm doing when I feel it.

That's why I have two types of signatures. I have a full on graphic one (one I'm currently working on, and fairly pleased with), that advertises my fan fiction, and then my basic text only one, which is toned more for professional interactions and advertisement of my forum in general.

That's because most people see signatures as part of the identity of the poster, like the Avatar and screen name. The signature wraps up the poster into a neat little package.

Less competition for attention, more eyeballs on ads, bigger profits for the Billionaires. We be Forum Admins. We are the Rebellion!

Facebook Groups. Reddit. Discord -- Forgot this one! Even the bigger anime forums, like Anime Suki don't seem to have too much activity anymore. The Mega Platforms nabbed most of the Otaku. And I can't stand places like FB groups, because of all the disorganized chaos. I imagine the same topics are brought up time and time again, and worse, older stuff is forgotten in the feed of the ancient past, never to be read aloud again. It's so heartbreaking! Sure, there's search, but honestly, who on FB or Reddit actually uses Search while on the platform within the group(s)? I never do, anyway. Anyway, that's part of the reason why I created my site. Not only to share my passion of anime and role playing, to find gaming buddies--other creative minds, but also as an act of preservation from an ancient time upon the Internet--that of the Anime Fan Club boards.

So, last night, I had a bit of a panic attack, as I noticed that I had zero guests on my forum, which I thought was unusual. I double checked to ensure that my website was actually up, no problems occurring. Then I read this morning, thanks to [mention=5]Cpvr[/mention] about utilizing the Google Search Console. Apparently, I had set this up a long time ago and had forgotten about it. I was reviewing the data, and I'm confused on what all this means, and more importantly, how to fix it. I'm using SMF 2.1.4, if that helps. [ATTACH type=full]1531[/ATTACH]

I've created a SiteMap (automatically using the Optimus Mod for SMF), and I've tried social networking posts, both direct, and indirectly by casually bringing up my forum. Nodda. Looks like I only did half of what I was supposed to with the sitemap thing though. I'll look into the Google Console stuff.